John Dobbs

Large Modernist Oill Painting Urban Pattern

Lowell Blair Nesbitt is an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Although he worked in a variety of media and covered a wide range of subjects throughout his career, he is best known for his large, Photorealist botanical paintings. Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1933, Nesbitt earned a degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Later, he also studied at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Working in stained glass and etching and also producing abstract paintings in his early career, a 1962 encounter with artist Robert Indiana led him to steer his aesthetic toward realism. Though he held his first solo show at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1958, it was his 1964 debut at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. that would truly bring him to the attention of the art world. In this exhibit, his botanical series of paintings, drawings, and prints captivated the art world and public alike. The game-changing Corcoran Gallery show would send his career down the trajectory of sustained success. In 1976, Nesbitt moved from his New York City West 14th Street studio to a massive space located at 389 West 12th Street. The 12,500 square foot living and workspace supplied ample room for creating his enormous paintings (the largest was more than 30 feet long), but it also bragged an indoor swimming pool, a four-story atrium, and a rooftop area for entertaining. “The Old Stable,” as Nesbitt came to call it, soon became a popular hangout for celebrities, dignitaries, and other art world heavy hitters. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Larry Rivers, and James Rosenquist were all known to have frequented The Old Stable or to have at least paid a visit. Throughout his long career, Nesbitt was known as an artist who could successfully capture an array of diverse subject matter using a variety of techniques. Creating beyond his signature Photorealistic flowers and botanicals, Nesbitt produced paintings, drawings, and prints of everything from landscapes to reptiles to electronic components. He is even credited as the first artist to use computer parts as artistic subject matter. In 1980, the United States Postal Service honored his contributions to the art world with a series of four stamps based on his trademark floral paintings. Another unique honor arrived when Nesbitt became the official artist for NASA’s Apollo 9 and Apollo 13...

Genre: Realism Subject: Portrait Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Dimensions: 24" x 20"

Genre: Israeli Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Dimensions: 24" x 20" Bezalel (nicknamed “Lilik”) Schatz was an Israeli artist, son of Boris Schatz, founder of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. Born in 1912 to Boris Schatz, and his wife Olga, an art critic. From an early age, he demonstrated considerable talent for gymnastics and music, but especially for art. He grew up in a home in which artists were a constant presence, he was introduced to Israel’s most prominent leaders, and the first public exhibition of his artwork coincided with his Bar Mitzvah celebration. He attended the Gymnasia in Jerusalem and at age 14 completed his studies at the Bezalel School. In 1930, Bezalel joined his father on a fundraising tour of Europe and the United States, where they also exhibited their artwork and that of Bezalel students. Following his father’s death in 1932, Bezalel left Israel for a period of about two decades. He spent the first four years studying at the Grand Chaumiere Academy in Paris. There, given the fairly conservative artistic views he had acquired at home and school – where modernism was denounced – he had to pave his own way as an artist among his peers. Between 1937 and 1951, Bezalel resided in the U.S. Near the end of WWII, he worked in a California shipyard, and it was there he met his future wife, Louise. He was also introduced to the novelist Henry Miller in California, and their friendship blossomed into a creative collaboration. The artist May Ray...

Genre: Classic Subject: Portrait Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Dimensions: 20.25" x 17.25" Dimensions w/Frame: 25.75" x 22.75"